To Give My Heart
by Spirit Seer
Summary: What would it take for a boy to earn Sakura's heart? Strength? Gifts? ...Totally off the mark. NaruSaku


**A/N:** Hello! I'm sorry for my long absence. We're finally back in our house now, but I'm having to post this from school, so please forgive me if I take a while in responding. Our computer and Internet are not set up yet.

I'm actually going a little outside my normal spectrum with this (NaruSaku), but the characters used were the only ones I felt could go with this song. Believe me, I tried comtemplating using Sasuke and Itachi... and it wasn't pretty. rofl Read the stanzas about the first two people and you'll see what I mean. xD So, sorry, but no ItaSaku goodness this time. I hope for some more ItaSaku in the future. ^^

Oh, and Lady Massacre, if you're reading this, I still have not checked out the song-fic challenge on LiveJournal, but it sounds really cool. :D

We're gonna pretend Neji's going to be the next Hyuuga clan head.

I know some people don't like it when authors use the honorifics or Japanese words if you're only going to use it a little or pretend you know the language (I can't pretend- I don't know it so I won't even try to pretend, though it would be cool to learn), but for some reason, as I was writing, Naruto didn't feel Naruto unless he called Sakura "Sakura-chan", so I left it in. Maybe I've been reading too much fanfiction. XD Please forgive me if you have a problem with it.

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* * *

Disclaimers:** _Dance on My Heart_ belongs to Allen Koepke. Awesome piece of choral music. See if it's on YouTube. It's worth listening to. Really energetic and fun. I first heard it a few years back and then got to sing it this year, so that was cool. ^^ Anyway, listen to it if you can. You won't be disappointed.

_Naruto_ belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. If this story wasn't awesome, would I be writing fanfaction or would you be reading this? xD

* * *

**Dance on My Heart**

The stripes of sunlight danced across Sakura's skin, the metal of the chair beneath her cold and hard as she sipped her cool iced tea. Ino sat across from her, humming a cheery tune beneath her breath as she used her straw to play with her melting ice cubes. A breeze gently swayed Sakura's hair and cooled her face within the shade of the café umbrella, but it did nothing to alleviate the heaviness on her shoulders.

She was lost. Trapped within the shadows of her memory.

_A bench. A 'thank you'. A retreating shadow as he exited her life, never to return._

Sakura's eyes narrowed in irritation. Why did he always haunt her like this? _Why couldn't he have just walked out as he did and leave her mental wellbeing alone?_

Simmering anger swept through Sakura. Her hand tightened around her glass, cracking a hair-thin line from the heart of it without breaking it. Ino's eyes flew to the cracking glass, tensing, but Sakura didn't even realize her action, too absorbed in her shadows.

Withdrawing her hand, Sakura rose from the chair with a huff. Why couldn't she just let him go and spare herself the resulting heartache?! Biting back a muttered curse, she mumbled, "I gotta go, Ino. Can I catch you later?"

Ino nodded, still casting a worried countenance at her pink-haired friend. "Alright. Take care, okay?"

Sakura simply nodded and walked off.

[Why did fate always conspire against her concerning men? Why could it never give in and simply let her have the man she wanted?!]

* * *

Walking through a street a while later, Sakura noticed Team Gai in the distance, Lee as exuberant and Neji as silent and cool as ever. Watching them, Sakura allowed a smile to grace her features as she gazed upon her two friends, her eyes warm though her spirit felt cold. They seemed to be in a heated discussion, probably on where they would be stopping for dinner later that evening, judging by the way Lee and Master Gai were jumping around excitedly. She chuckled a hollowly to herself. Neji and Lee were great friends, even if she wasn't in the mood to be immersed with them at the moment.

But that's all they would ever be to her. All they could ever be- friends.

_**Once two handsome gentlemen asked a fair young maid a question:**_

"_**What must we do to win your hand and gain your kind affection?"**_

_**One said he was "stronger by far" than any other man that she'd meet**_

_**Also being braver than most, said: "Please, marry me, I'm adoringly sweet."**_

They had both approached her once about it, on her way home after an easy mission. Neji commented how she never dated anyone, nor expressed any desire to since Sasuke had left. Lee added that they both wished to date her, but they wished to ask if she would be willing to date one of them.

Sakura had shaken her head silently, murmuring how she couldn't let go of Sasuke. He was still too firmly ingrained in her heart and mind. She couldn't let him go.

She had turned to go continue home, but Lee had caught her hand.

"Sakura, please, tell me. Tell us. What do we have to do to win your heart? If I could win it by proving my strength to you, I would do it a thousand times over. I would run a million laps around Konoha, I would do a hundred thousand push-ups without stopping, I would do three hundred thousand sit-ups non-stop. I would train with you whenever you needed." He flashed his winning, flashing-teeth brilliant smile and added, "And you know me. I'm really nice and you'll never have a doubt about that. Will you go out with me?"

_**Then, said the other, "What if I give you diamonds and pearls, would you be my bride?**_

_**I can offer power and riches. All through your life you'll be satisfied."**_

Then Neji stepped up for his turn.

"I can offer more than strength or charm, Sakura. I can offer you the world. You'll have many more connections and opportunities with me, if we were to later wed, because I'm the heir of the Hyuuga clan. I can offer you whatever you desire; you'll never have a want I can't acquire for you. You'll be well taken care of and one of the most powerful women in Konoha. Trouble won't touch you."

His eyes bright in hopeful expectation, he asked, "Would you go out with me?"

"_**Well," she replied, "I'd make my selection, **_

_**and you'd receive my love and affection**_

_**if you danced on my heart, if you sang to my soul.**_

_**But alas, my heart is not pounding**_

_**and your songs are not sounding.**_

_**Therefore, I cannot marry you."**_

Sakura just smiled sadly at them and shook her head. "Lee," he perked up, "Neji," he looked up quickly, "you're really great friends, and I really like you a lot…" Sakura paused, "but I just don't like you that way."

Lee and Neji visibly deflated.

"I'll always want you to be my friends," Sakura quickly added, "and I really do like you for who you are. You're both awesome, and I respect you a lot." They seemed to perk up slightly. "It's just…." Sakura trailed off, loss for words clouding her countenance. Finally, she sighed and shook her head again. "I'm sorry. I just don't feel my heart race or feelings of romantic love when I look at you. I can feel the way you love me, but my heart stands silent in response to it. I love you as friends, but I don't like either of you the way you're wanting me to. "

Sakura's head fell as she stared at the ground, her bangs breathing shadows on her face as she murmured, "I'm sorry…."

Lee and Neji nodded in muted acquiescence, and then they parted ways.

* * *

The knock was loud at her door as Sakura was interrupted in reading her medical scroll. A small surge of irritation coursed through her as she reluctantly rolled it up and put it away. Why was it she was constantly bothered at home when she was trying to relax and bury past shadows with distraction? She grumbled beneath her breath as she left her bedroom to reach the front door, where the knocking was only increasing with enthusiastic force.

"Coming, coming…" she muttered. Finally clutching the knob, she turned it and pulled the door open to reveal an energetic Naruto.

"Sakura-chan!!" He was practically bouncing in her doorframe. "C'mon, let's go already!!"

"Go where?" Sakura eyed him with confusion mixed with internal trepidation-laced irritation. Why couldn't she be left alone today?

"Dinner!" Naruto replied, half-eyeing her like he couldn't believe she could forget. "Remember? This is the day of the week we always get together!!"

Sakura sighed internally. She had forgotten about their weekly dinner. Her struggle to mope in her gloom and refuse dinner against it being Naruto she was refusing warred internally for a couple of seconds, before she answered at last, "Um… Naruto? I'm sorry, but… I'm not really feeling that well today, so maybe I should just stay home…."

The light in the room dimmed a little as the bounciness fizzled away. "Aw, Sakura-chan, what's wrong?" He spoke quieter, more sober, as he gazed worriedly at her with his bright blue eyes.

"I'm just-…." Sakura fumbled, before trying, "Well…."

Nothing came. She gave up and just fell silent.

Naruto's eyebrows furrowed as he watched her thoughtfully, his previous hyper-ness gone with the force it had arrived with. After a moment of mutual silence, he sighed. "Maybe we should just stay here," he determined. "It'll probably be better."

"Wait." Sakura felt thrown for a loop with the sudden change of pace. "What-"

"It's decided then!!" Naruto chirped happily. "We'll eat dinner in your apartment tonight!"

Sakura felt caught between the seven forms of the Akatsuki Leader and a Mamba-riding Orochimaru with no weapons or chakra on her person to defend herself and running was not an option. Her best friend stood before her, that determined expression on his face, and Sakura couldn't bring herself to tell him 'no'.

She internally sighed and resigned herself to dinner. "Alright," she acquiesced, stepping away from the doorframe. "Come on in."

Naruto entered quickly, closing the door behind him before racing to kitchen to inspect what there was for their dinner that night.

Sakura could only die a little inside as she faced the circumstances of fate.

* * *

Dinner was filled mostly with Naruto's excited chatter about inconsequential matters. Sakura mainly fulfilled her conversational duty through strained smiles and nods.

Finally, Naruto set down the glass he had previously been drinking water from and stated, "Okay, Sakura-chan. Tell me what's wrong."

Sakura jumped slightly. She should've expected the question. She just hadn't wanted to hear it.

She shook her head, staring down at the tablecloth and her hands folded in her lap.

Naruto saddened. "Why won't you tell me what's wrong? It's like I can't reach you anymore, Sakura-chan." His shoulders slumped.

Sakura felt her spirit sag. She hated making Naruto sad.

"It's just…" she tried again. "I… I just don't want to talk about it. It's not like anyone would know, anyway," she added in a whispered afterthought.

Naruto fell silent for a moment, not knowing how to respond to this. Finally, he murmured, sighing, "There are a lot more people than you think that are grieving. You don't have to suffer alone."

Sakura realized moisture has sparked its presence in the corners of her eyes, and she brushed it away viciously. "How can people say time heals all wounds?" Sakura cried out, while trying to stem the increasing flow of tears. "How can they say that grieving fades? It doesn't! He still cuts as jagged a wound in my heart as the day he left till the day he… he…." The stream became uncontrollable, and Sakura gave up trying to speak, relinquishing herself to her sobs. She moved away from the table, curling up into a ball and burying her face in her arms in an attempt to block out the world and its tortured sorrows.

Naruto rose with a muted sigh, crossing deftly over to where Sakura now sat, and sat beside her. "I… I know what you're going through, Sakura-chan, even if you don't want to share your burden. I loved Sasuke, too. Though not in the same say," he hastily added. "But I loved him in a brotherly bond, equally strong. And I…"

Sakura let out a surprised squeak when Naruto suddenly pulled her into an embrace. As she lay startled in his arms, she realized there were tears sparkling the sleeve of her shirt- his tears.

Naruto was crying too.

He was crying with her, letting her see his tears mingle amidst hers.

This was his way of asking her to let him in.

_**Then a kindly gentleman asked the fair young maid the question:**_

"_**What must I do to win your hand and gain your kind affection?**_

_**I can only promise to love you, be at your side through all of my life.**_

_**I will be your faithful companion. Come take my hand, say you'll be my wife."**_

"I'm grieving just as much as you are over Sasuke's death," Naruto exclaimed. "I cared for him, too!" He paused, before adding, "I guess what I'm trying to say, is…. You don't have to suffer alone, Sakura-chan. You always have my shoulder to cry upon, and you know I love you just as much. Please, Sakura-chan, let me into your heart, even if it's just this once. You can't live in your grief forever."

Sakura could only sit speechless, stunned by Naruto's heartfelt emotion and words.

"Please, Sakura-chan, let me in and we can help each other heal," he begged. "I can't stand to see you suffering. It kills me to see you when you're hurting. We're always together, but how can I claim the title as your best friend if I can't even help you when you're in pain? I love you, Sakura-chan," Naruto whispered. "Please, let me into your heart. Help me reach you."

"_**Sir," she replied, "you are my selection, **_

_**and you'll receive my love and affection**_

_**for you dance my heart, and you sing to my soul.**_

_**I'll take your hand, **_

_**wear your wedding band.**_

_**Yes, kind sir, I will marry you!"**_

Naruto's words were still ringing throughout the room. They were so strong Sakura almost couldn't believe what she had heard.

But they touched her in a way no one else ever had. In a way Neji and Lee couldn't reach her.

They danced on her heart, singing the melody of her soul, the salve she needed to soothe her wounded spirit.

The tears sprang forth anew, and she clutched at Naruto's shirt as if he were her lifeline. Her words came in halting bursts, but she managed to choke out,

"I-I don't know if I-I'll ever be able to h-heal, Naruto," Sakura cried through her hyperventilating sobs. "I-I don't know if I can e-ever f-fully let go of S-Sasuke's memory. B-But I'll try. I l-love you, too, Naruto, and I w-want to l-let you in my heart. But I'm s-scared to let go of my walls… I don't know h-how long…." Sakura gave up, shaking her head as she gave herself over to her sobs.

Naruto just held her in his arms, rocking her gently and rubbing her back slowly. "I've always been here for you, Sakura-chan, and I always will. I've never abandoned you, and I never will. However long this takes, we'll wait it out- together."

And then he whispered those words in her ear again- the words which had managed to pierce through her walls and reach her to dance on her heart:

"_I love you, Sakura-chan."_

They were all she needed to know to give her heart to him.

* * *

A/N: Yes, Sasuke's dead in this fic. Sorry if you all hate me for it. I just thought that there wasn't really much chance of Naruto asking Sakura out and Sakura considering going out with Naruto if Sasuke was still alive. It would've been betrayal from both points of view. So, as a catalyst, I figured Sasuke would've had to have been dead for this fic to come to be. Thus, in this AU song-fic, Sasuke is mysteriously dead…. Maybe Itachi finally killed him in another of Sasuke's failed assassination attempts, and Itachi died in the process. Can I have that excuse for not using them? :P lol

Well, I hope you enjoyed it! :) Probably could've been better flow- and detail-wise, but whatcha think? Please R&R and leave me your thoughts! You'll make my day.


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